NASCAR
Police in Muskogee, Oklahoma, are investigating the shooting deaths of three relatives of NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson. Muskogee police spokesperson Lynn Hamlin says the bodies of Jack Janway; his wife, Terry Janway; and their 11-year-old grandson, Dalton Janway, were discovered Monday at a home in Muskogee. Hamlin confirmed the three are the parents and nephew of Johnson's wife, Chandra Janway. Hamlin says investigators believe Terry Janway shot and killed her husband and grandson before shooting herself. Johnson's race team has announced it is withdrawing his No. 84 Carvana Chevrolet from this weekend's NASCAR Cup Series event in Chicago.
MLB
N.Y. Mets 7 Milwaukee 2
Brandon Nimmo homered twice and David Peterson threw six scoreless innings in his return to the majors as the struggling Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-2, hours after New York owner Steve Cohen announced plans to hold a press conference on the state of the team. The Mets won for the third time in 10 games and for the sixth time in 22 games. New York began the season with a record $355 million payroll and has struggled to a 36-43 record. The Mets entered Tuesday’s game 8 1/2 games back of the final NL wild-card spot. The Mets slugged four homers and made a loser of Milwaukee’s Julio Teheran.
Paul Blackburn pitched into the sixth inning for Oakland, allowing one run on Josh Donaldson’s homer in his return to the lineup and sending the Athletics to a 2-1 victory over the New York Yankees. The slumping Donaldson connected in the fifth in his first action since Friday, but that was it for New York. The 2015 AL MVP went 1 for 4 with two strikeouts, raising his batting average to .132 in 22 games. Seth Brown homered for the second consecutive day as the last-place A’s beat the Yankees for the first time this season after they were swept in a three-game series in the Bronx in May.
Bryan De La Cruz hit a two-run home run, Jean Segura added a solo homer and the Florida Marlins beat the Boston Red Sox 10-1. The Marlins, winners of four of their last five, finished with 19 hits. Jazz Chisholm contributed three RBIs. Garrett Cooper added two RBIs, Jorge Soler had an RBI double, and Joey Wendle finished with four hits. Luis Arraez, who entered the day with a .399 average, struck out for the first time since June 14. But he had a single and RBI double. Sandy Alcántara (3-6) was strong over seven innings, giving one run off six hits and striking out five. Boston's Garrett Whitlock (4-3) was pulled after 4 2/3 innings, yielding six runs off 11 hits.
Shohei Ohtani became the first American League pitcher in nearly 60 years to hit two homers and strike out 10 batters in a game, leading the Los Angeles Angels past the Chicago White Sox 4-2 in his latest extraordinary performance. Ohtani, who leads the majors with 28 home runs, hit solo shots in the first and seventh innings. It's first time he has gone deep twice while also pitching. The superstar from Japan struck out 10 in a 6 1/3-inning start that ended because of a cracked fingernail. He's the sixth player in major league history to homer at least twice and strike out at least 10.
Cleveland Guardians manager Terry Francona remained hospitalized overnight for evaluation after feeling ill before last night’s game against the Kansas City Royals. The 64-year-old Francona was taken to The University of Kansas Health Systems to be evaluated “out of an abundance of caution” given his medical history. Francona missed much of the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to a variety of physical issues. DeMarlo Hale, who has filled in for Francona in the past, managed the Guardians, who rallied for a 2-1 win in the opener of a three-game series. Francona is in his 11th season with the Guardians.
NHL
On the ice, the draft begins tonight at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The Chicago Blackhawks drew the first overall pick in the lottery.
The NHL and NHLPA are launching a new Player Inclusion Coalition aimed at diversifying hockey and making it more welcoming. The 20-member group includes current and former men’s and women’s players with minority and LGBTQ+ representation. It’s the latest step in a process started in the summer of 2020 when the police killing of George Floyd led to a worldwide reckoning on racial matters. It also comes on the heels of several incidents related to Pride nights around the league, when a handful of players refused to wear rainbow-colored jerseys for warmups.
NBA
The Philadelphia 76ers are on the brink of entering next season without James Harden. All signs point to Harden declining his $35.6 million option on Thursday and entering this summer as an unrestricted free agent. That leaves the 2018 NBA MVP and 10-time All-Star free to sign with any team. Tobias Harris stumped for a Harden return as he grabbed rebounds and posed for selfies with children Tuesday at a Fanatics promotion. The 76ers lost in the second round of the playoffs. It was another early exit for a team that won 54 games and marked 22 seasons since the franchise reached the Eastern Conference finals. It cost coach Doc Rivers his job.
NFL
Former Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett, who also played for New England, Houston and Baltimore during five seasons in the NFL, has died in an apparent drowning, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. He was 35. Mallett was a football coach at White Hall High School in his native Arkansas, and the school district also confirmed his death in a post on its website. Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said the university “lost an incredibly special person.”
WNBA
Breanna Stewart scored 24 points and Jonquel Jones added 14 points and 11 rebounds in her return to Connecticut as the New York Liberty beat the Sun 89-81. The victory moved the Liberty into a tie with Connecticut atop the Commissioner Cup standings in the Eastern Conference. Each team has one game left although New York has the tiebreaker having swept the two games against the Sun. Alyssa Thomas led Connecticut (12-4) with 11 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for her fifth career triple-double. She’s now done it in consecutive games and three times in the last seven days. Thomas is the all-time record holder in the category. DiJonai Carrington scored a career-high 23 points to lead Connecticut.
NCAA
The attorney for one of the former New Mexico State basketball players who filed a lawsuit alleging he was ganged up on and sexually assaulted by teammates says the case has been settled. No details of the settlement were immediately made public. Aggie players Deuce Benjamin and Shak Odunewu filed the lawsuit in April. The players alleged three teammates assaulted them multiple times over the span of months, while coaches who knew of the episodes did nothing about it.
WOMENS WORLD CUP
Megan Rapinoe’s role is changing as the United States prepares for the Women’s World Cup. The outspoken 37-year-old known for her Easter egg hair colors and the iconic victory pose she struck at the 2019 World Cup is the oldest player on the team now, so change was inevitable heading into the tournament that opens next month in Australia and New Zealand. Rapinoe has been nursing an apparent calf injury she suffered on June 10 while playing for her club team in the National Women’s Soccer League. But she’s not expecting it to hold her back.
WTA
It took more than three decades after the founding of the Women’s Tennis Association for all four Grand Slam tournaments to agree to give the same prize money to female and male players. Now the women’s tour is pledging to make sure its athletes also get identical paychecks at some other top-tier events in the coming years. The St. Petersburg, Florida-based WTA has announced that it is setting up what it called a “pathway to equal prize money” by 2027 for certain tournaments and 2033 for others. Changes must be approved by the WTA Board of Directors in August.
PGA TOUR
The PGA Tour is seeking to assure players they will have a say in the tour's new partnership with the Saudi funders of LIV Golf. The tour's policy board issued a statement Tuesday noting players would have to approve any final agreement between the once-rival tours. The statement was released after a meeting of the board, which includes five players: Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson. The framework agreement between the tour and the Saudis says the parties would work together to decide how defectors to LIV Golf can return and what kind of punishment they would face.
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